A proper Midnight Sun introduction, only 10 months late

Your new Midnight Sun writer hard at work at this year's Preakness. Or checking Twitter.

Your new Midnight Sun writer hard at work at this year's Preakness. Or checking Twitter. (Stokely Baksh, Baltimore Sun)

Wesley Case, The Baltimore Sun

It’s somewhat strange to write an introduction on a blog you’ve been contributing to for the past 10 months, yet here I am, doing the Internet equivalent to the awkward honk and wave.

But hey, better late than never, right?

The old Midnight Sun scribe, Erik Maza, has headed north to Women’s Wear Daily and we raise our glass to him. Now, loyal Midnight Sun readers, you have me, a 25-year-old features reporter who lives in Canton and considers bar-hopping with friends a good night out.

A little more about me so my parents don’t think I have a problem: I grew up in South Jersey, 30 minutes away from Atlantic City, in a tiny town called Hammonton (look for it in the first episode of “Boardwalk Empire”). I played guitar in an emo band in high school. I studied English at the University of Delaware, and, like Joe Flacco, I headed down I-95 after graduation to Baltimore.

Going forward you’ll see the music coverage I’ve been writing since I started and also my take on the city’s perpetually expanding bar scene. That means bar reviews and news, but also the many forms of random weirdness that seem to permeate throughout this beautiful city.

Someone on Twitter recently said they missed the old comments section of Midnight Sun. I want to bring that sense of community back to the blog, with readers bouncing ideas and opinions off each other and me. The city’s bar scene is always changing, with closings and openings every week, so I need your help to tell me what’s worth checking out. And if you don’t agree with my take, let’s talk about it. We may not end up seeing eye to eye, but I know I will have learned something from it.